7th annual meeting of theOECD Expert Group onOpen Government Data

Agenda

14-15 JUNE 2021 (VIRTUAL)

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OPEN DATA FORTRUST AND WELL-BEING: ONE YEAR AFTER THEFIRST WAVE OF THECOVID-19 PANDEMIC

From the outset, the access to and sharing ofhigh-quality and timely data has been critical inresponding to the COVID-19 pandemic (OECD andODC, forthcoming). Opening up government datacan facilitate the free flow of data to enhancescientific research, enable social and economicrecovery, and improve public sectorresponsiveness, accountability and integrity [1]. Itallows decision makers and the scientific andacademic communities to analyse, compare, andtest new hypotheses related to the virus. It also empowers watchdogs to better scrutinizegovernment decisions, including in terms ofemergency expenditure.

The 6th Meeting of the OECD Expert Group onOpen Government Data (11 – 12 June, 2020)discussed how the initial uses of open data totackle COVID-19 [2] largely focused on situationalanalysis to enable a collective response to thepandemic. For instance, evidence from the OECD-Govlab joint analytical work (OECD and Govlab,2021) shows how governments’ early policyresponses prioritised access to open data and thedevelopment of data visualisation platforms toincrease awareness of the pandemic’sdevelopment. More recently, national and localgovernments publish as open data information onthe progress of vaccination campaigns as opendata (e.g. France, Peru and State of California) [3].However, the full potential of open data remainsuntapped. It could be an important tool forcountering dis- and mis-information, for example,and for improving service design and delivery.

Open government data and the fightagainst misinformation

The access to and sharing of trusted data canproduce reliable information and insights toinform decision-making, including by individuals.Yet, information and data overload, oftenexacerbated by social media, can affect individuals’ability to discern between accurate and inaccuratedata, and between trustworthy and misleadingdata sources. In 2020, the World Health Organisation identified aglobal “infodemic”, defined as an overabundanceof both accurate and false information that makesit difficult to identify trustworthy sources (WHO,2020). The United Nations and the North AtlanticTreaty Organisation (NATO) have both alsounderlined the risks misinformation poses topolicy responses to fight COVID-19 [see UnitedNations (2020) & NATO (2020)]. These challengescan reduce individuals’ trust in official informationand data sources and their ability to make well-informed decisions.

The spread of dis- and misinformation can leadindividuals to put personal health and safety atrisk. Misinformation about COVID-19 has beennamed the “biggest pandemic risk” for publichealth (Larson, 2018), as evidence shows that falseor inaccurate information can discourage citizensfrom following health guidance and takingproactive measures, negatively affect willingnessto get vaccinated, and undermine confidence inscience, health systems and workers, andgovernment institutions (Pomeranz and Schwid,2021). For instance, data from the UK Office forNational Statistics (ONS) shows that 36% of peoplein that country believe that the side effects of theCOVID-19 vaccination could be worse than thedisease itself and another 22% believe rumours onthe potential impact of vaccination on fertility(OAG, 2021).

Furthermore, with the increasing use of data-driven technologies such as artificial intelligence(AI), the availability of meaningless and irrelevantdata (noisy data) (Gupta and Gupta, 2019) canaffect the accuracy and precision of the insightsand subsequent decisions supported by AIsystems, including by governments. As a result, thegrowing use of AI by public sector organisations(e.g. to improve the quality of public policies)entails responsibility and accountability, includingin the selection of data used to inform algorithms(OECD, 2021).

In light of the above, the identification of trustedCOVID-19 data sources is crucial to helpindividuals navigate information overload andaccess reliable information (Lima, Lopes and Brito,2020), and enable trustworthy decision making.Opening up government data enablesgovernments to communicate and fill datavacuums (as discussed in the forthcoming OECDGood Practice Principles on public communicationresponses to countering mis- and disinformation),allow fact checking and fight misinformation [4]. Itis also critical for increasing trust in decision-making processes, in particular those relying onthe access to and sharing of data and the use ofdata-driven technologies, such as AI.

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Open government data as an enabler ofpeople-driven services

While earlier OECD work on open governmentdata has stressed its potential in the design anddelivery of services that respond to people’ needs(OECD, 2018), user-driven [5] services built onopen government data have not materialised asexpected.

Since April 2020, the benefits of OGD were evidentin sharing timely and essential information such ason health services (e.g. hospital occupancy rates,location). Large quantities of open governmentdata have been made available and accessible viarepositories, portals, and data visualisation tools.The publication of OGD has focused onresponding to the broader public interest andsocietal demands (e.g. emergency expenditure,social monitoring of COVID-19 spread) associatedwith the pandemic, rather than on creatingservices individuals can use in their day-to-day life.There was limited evidence of dedicated servicesor innovations created from the re-use of this datato meet the individual needs of citizens whendealing with the pandemic.

Evidence from the joint OECD-Govlab work onopen data and COVID-19 shows a missedopportunity to use OGD for more sophisticatedproducts or services to help individuals cope withthe disease (OECD and Govlab, 2021).

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OECD member countries, like Korea, a global

leader on OGD, offer an insight into how open

government data and collaboration with private

sector companies could be used to design services

providing information on face mask pricing, stores’

location and masks’ availability. Nevertheless,

scaling up efforts such as these requires access to

additional types of structured, disaggregated,

accurate and updated data (e.g. location and stores

with available oxygen tanks, and public and private

health service providers providing access to tests

and vaccines, including their pricing) to facilitate the

development of personalised services.

Common policy priorities and the OECDwork for the years to come

Pursuing digital maturity and data competency inthe public sector will remain critical in the years tocome. Making sure that digital tools and data canbe used to increase governments’ preparednessand capability to respond to emergencies andtackle global challenges, requires solid digital anddata governance foundations and a strongerstrategic focus on data re-use, including to fightmisinformation and develop people-drivenservices.

Multilateral policy dialogue, including through theOECD, can help promote sustainable investmentsin digital government, data and open datastrategies, that can deliver better impact and valueto societies and economies. OECD standardsetting, analytical and measurement work on datawill support the identification and tackling ofcommon policy priorities by national governmentsin the medium and long term.

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This includes the OECD work on:

•Data access and sharing[COM/DSTI/CDEP/STP/GOV/PGC(2020)1/REV2]; • Data-driven public sector [including on datagovernance & data ethics in the public sector[see OECD (2019) and (2021)] •Open government data [including the OECDOpen, Useful, and Re-usable data, OURdataIndex]; and, •The OECD Digital Government PolicyFramework and the OECD Digital GovernmentIndex [see OECD (2020[a]) and OECD(2020[b])].

Agenda

14 June 2021 Day 1

Online registration

Session 1. One Year after the First Wave of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Tacking stock of lessons-learnt

Session 2. Tackling COVID-19 misinformationthrough open government data

Session 3. Open government data and publicservices: Facilitating people's journeysthroughout the crisis

12h45 - 13h00

13h10 - 14h00

14h05 - 15h00

15h05 - 16h00

Opening remarks 13h00 - 13h10

CEST (Paris, FR)

Agenda

CLOSED SESSION

Online registration

Session 4. OECD Open government datasurvey & OURData Index 2022

Session 5. Looking forward:Identifying policy priorities

13h00 - 14h00

12h45 - 13h00

14h00 - 14h30

15 June 2021Day 2

CEST (Paris, FR)

Program Flow - Day 1

Online registration 12h45 - 13h00

Delegates are expected to join 15 minutes before the meeting starts usingthe Zoom link sent by email after registration.

Please use the following name format to connect to the meeting: COUNTRY– Name, LASTNAME or ORGANISATION – Name, LASTNAME.

Session 1. One Year after the First Wave ofthe Covid-19 Pandemic: Tacking stock oflessons-learnt

13h10 - 14h00

Opening remarks 13h00 - 13h10

• Elsa Pilichowski, Director, Directorate for Public Governance, OECD

This session will provide the opportunity to report back on lessons learnedone year after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 meetingof the Expert Group. The session will introduce the key findings from OECDwork in this area to promote discussion of the challenges ahead andawareness amongst decision-makers from OECD member and non-membercountries of the need to use open government data as a driver ofperformance, trust and well-being.

Delegates are invited to share their experiences and thoughts on what wentwell and what they would do differently to foster mutual learning and identifyopportunities for collective efforts in the coming year.

Break 14h00 - 14h05

CEST (Paris, FR)

Session 2. Tacking COVID-19 misinformationthrough open government data

14h05 - 15h00

This session will look at how governments use data to communicate effectively withthe public and explore the relationship between open data policies and the fightagainst misinformation. Discussions will cover the use of data to fostercollaboration, including among centres of government, national statistical offices,health ministries and digital government bodies, to increase trust in official sourcesand counterbalance unreliable data and their sources. The session will also addressthe challenges that misinformation poses to data-driven decision-making modelsand the actions governments can take to address these risks, including goodpractices related to public communication.

Delegates are invited to share their views on how the access to and sharing of opendata sources, including OGD, and the use of digital tools in public communications,can help in fighting misinformation, and to discuss OGD as a tool for checking factsand as a source of trustworthy information about COVID-19.

Break 15h00 - 15h05

Session 3. Open government data andpublic services: Facilitating people's journeysthroughout the crisis

15h05 - 16h00

This session will reflect on the role and potential of open data for the design anddelivery of people-driven public services, and how these can help individuals bettercope with the pandemic and its aftermath. It will discuss the main trends observedacross governments when it comes to data publication and will explore how opengovernment data could be used to further address the needs of individuals bybuilding services that rely on it.

Delegates are invited to share their experiences and the challenges they faced inusing open government data as an enabler of sustainable user-driven services.From this perspective, delegates are invited to share their views in relation to theneed to generate and share additional types of structured, disaggregated, accurateand timely OGD, and the role of public-private partnerships in enabling open dataaccess and sharing for emergency response and service design and delivery.

Program Flow - Day 1 CEST (Paris, FR)

Program Flow - Day 2

Online registration 12h45 - 13h00

CLOSED SESSION

Session 4. OECD Open government data survey and OURdata Index 2022 13h00 - 14h00

This session will provide an opportunity for the OECD Secretariat to share thelatest developments concerning the OECD Open Government Data Survey andthe Open, Useful and Re-usable data (OURdata) Index, allowing delegates toprovide final comments on the revised survey and its piloting in the secondhalf of 2021.

Session 5. Looking forward:Identifying policy priorities 14h00 - 14h30

Drawing upon Day 1 and Day 2, and the lessons learned so far from the use ofopen data in the fight against COVID-19 and the gaps it unveiled, this sessionwill allow delegates to identify their policy priorities for the following biennium.This will provide the basis for discussing the potential role of the OECD andexploring possible areas of work in this regard in connection with thepreparation of the Programme of Work and Budget for 2022-23.

Delegates are expected to join 15 minutes before the meeting starts usingthe Zoom link sent by email after registration.

Please use the following name format to connect to the meeting: COUNTRY– Name, LASTNAME or ORGANISATION – Name, LASTNAME.

CEST (Paris, FR)

Agley, J. and Y. Xiao (2021), “Misinformation about COVID-19: evidencefor differential latent profiles and a strong association with trust inscience”, BMC Public Health, Vol. 21/1, p. 89,http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-10103-x.

Al Jazeera (2020), Iran: Over 700 dead after drinking alcohol to curecoronavirus, Al Jazeera Coronavirus Pandemic News,https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/4/27/iran-over-700-dead-after-drinking-alcohol-to-cure-coronavirus (accessed on 16 April 2021).

Gupta, S. and A. Gupta (2019), Dealing with noise problem in machinelearning data-sets: A systematic review, Elsevier B.V.,http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2019.11.146.

Larson, H. (2018), “The biggest pandemic risk? Viral misinformation”,Springer Nature, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2018.1522468.

Lima, D., M. Lopes and A. Brito (2020), “Social media: friend or foe in theCOVID-19 pandemic?”, Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Vol. 75,http://dx.doi.org/10.6061/clinics/2020/e1953.

NATO (2020), NATO’s approach to countering disinformation,https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/177273.htm (accessed on 11 May2021).

NATO (2020), NATO’s approach to countering disinformation: a focus onCOVID-19, https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/177273.htm (accessedon 11 May 2021).

OAG (2021), Data finds 36% of people refuse COVID vaccine due to sideeffect fears, Open Access Government (OAG),https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/side-effect-fears/107436/(accessed on 16 April 2021).

OECD (2021), Good Practice Principles for Data Ethics in the PublicSector - OECD, OECD Publishing, Paris,https://www.oecd.org/gov/digital-government/good-practice-principles-for-data-ethics-in-the-public-sector.htm (accessed on 14 April 2021).

OECD (2020 [a]), “Open, Useful and Re-usable data (OURdata) Index:2019”, OECD Policy Papers on Public Governance, No. 1, OECD, Paris,https://www.oecd.org/gov/digital-government/policy-paper-ourdata-index-2019.htm (accessed on 12 May 2021).

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REFERENCES

OECD (2020 [b]), “The OECD Digital Government Policy Framework: Sixdimensions of a Digital Government”, OECD Public Governance PolicyPapers, No. 02, OECD Publishing, Paris,https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/f64fed2a-en.

OECD (2019), The Path to Becoming a Data-Driven Public Sector, OECDDigital Government Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris,https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/059814a7-en.

OECD (2018), Open Government Data Report: Enhancing Policy Maturityfor Sustainable Impact, OECD Digital Government Studies, OECDPublishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264305847-en.

OECD (n.d.), COVID-19 Innovative Response Tracker, Observatory ofPublic Sector Innovation (OPSI), https://oecd-opsi.org/covid-response/(accessed on 16 April 2021).

OECD and Govlab (2021), Open data in action: Initiatives during theinitial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic - OCDE, OECD Publishing, Paris,https://www.oecd.org/fr/gouvernance/gouvernement-numerique/use-of-open-government-data-to-address-covid19-outbreak.htm (accessedon 14 April 2021).

OECD and ODC (forthcoming), [Policy+] Rebooting open governmentdata infrastructures to manage health emergencies.

OGP (2020), A Guide to Open Government and the Coronavirus: OpenData, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/a-guide-to-open-government-and-the-coronavirus-open-data/ (accessed on 16April 2021).

Pomeranz, J. and A. Schwid (2021), “Governmental actions to addressCOVID-19 misinformation”, Journal of Public Health Policy, pp. 1-10,http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41271-020-00270-x.

Roozenbeek, J. et al. (2020), “Susceptibility to misinformation aboutCOVID-19 around the world: Susceptibility to COVID misinformation”,Royal Society Open Science, Vol. 7/10,http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201199.

Rothwell, J. and S. Desai (2020), How misinformation is distorting COVIDpolicies and behaviors, Brookings Institution,https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-misinformation-is-distorting-covid-policies-and-behaviors/ (accessed on 16 April 2021).

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REFERENCES

Straface, F. (2020), How open data can help us beat the COVID-19pandemic, World Economic Forum,https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/covid-19-how-open-data-can-help-us-beat-the-pandemic/ (accessed on 16 April 2021).

United Nations (2020), Misinformation ‘Shadow Pandemic’ on COVID-19Risks Lives, Threatens Uptake of Vaccines, Secretary-General Warns, inMessage to Web Summit,https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/sgsm20474.doc.htm (accessed on11 May 2021).

United Nations (2020), Misinformation ‘Shadow Pandemic’ on COVID-19Risks Lives, Threatens Uptake of Vaccines, Secretary-General Warns, inMessage to Web Summit, U.N. Meetings Coverage and Press Releases,https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/sgsm20474.doc.htm (accessed on11 May 2021).

WHO (2020), Novel Coronavirus(2019-nCoV): Situation Report-13, WorldHealth Organisation (WHO), https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200202-sitrep-13-ncov-v3.pdf(accessed on 16 April 2021).

[3] For France see : https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/donnees-relatives-aux-personnes-vaccinees-contre-la-covid-19-1/. For Peru see:https://www.datosabiertos.gob.pe/dataset/vacunaci%C3%B3n-contra-covid-19-ministerio-de-salud-minsa . For the State of California see:https://data.ca.gov/dataset/covid-19-vaccine-progress-dashboard-data

[4] See for instance: https://theodi.org/article/data-2020-misinformation-disinformation-and-fact-checking/#1582288758996-7962dae9-8fc41699-7f0c

[5] For more information on user-driven approaches in the context ofdigital government strategies see OECD (2020) The OECD DigitalGovernment Policy Framework: Six dimensions of a Digital Government.Available at: https://www.oecd.org/governance/the-oecd-digital-government-policy-framework-f64fed2a-en.htm

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NOTES [1] See for instance Straface, F. (2020), How open data can help us beatthe COVID-19 pandemic, World Economic Forum,https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/covid-19-how-open-data-can-help-us-beat-the-pandemic/. & OGP (2020) A Guide to OpenGovernment and the Coronavirus: Open Data,https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/a-guide-to-open-government-and-the-coronavirus-open-data/ [2] See the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation’s COVID-19Innovative Response Tracker for information and examples on openCovid-19 data practices from OECD member and non-membercountries at https://oecd-opsi.org/covid-response/

Contact:Barbara Ubaldi barbara.ubaldi@oecd.orgArturo Rivera jacobarturo.riveraperez@oecd.orgCecilia Emilsson cecilia.emilsson@oecd.org

@OECDgov